Munaeem's Blog

  From Condemnation to Consequence Imagine you’re chatting with your friend over coffee about global politics—and suddenly, you drop this bomb: 40 cross‑party MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) are demanding the EU suspend its trade deal with Israel. Not just a stern letter—an actual suspension of the EU‑Israel Association Agreement. They’re calling for sanctions. They’re using words like “moral stain on humanity” to describe what’s happening in Gaza. They mean business. ( source ) This isn’t fringe politics. These lawmakers represent multiple blocs—from the centre‑right EPP to the left‑wing S&D. Israel, as the EU’s biggest trade partner in the Middle East, stands to feel real consequences. ( source , source ) If the EU listens, we're talking real economic leverage: suspending visas, banning settlement imports, even freezing Horizon Europe research funding. ( source ) Breaking the Association Agreement What’s on the table? The Association Agreement is the legal backbo...

A land that resists exile France will recognize Palestine in September. The UK may follow. And Israel, as always, stands defiant. Not just against its enemies, but now against its own allies. It refused to send a delegate to the two-state summit in New York. Said it would play into Hamas’s hands. But what are the alternatives? Antonio Guterres asked the question that too many leaders duck. “A one-state reality where Palestinians are denied equal rights and forced to live under perpetual occupation and inequality? Or a one-state reality where Palestinians are expelled from their land? That is not peace.” There it is. The silence between recognition and rockets. Between the rubble of Gaza and the marble floors of diplomacy. Between a people longing for sovereignty, and a state that insists security means domination. Gaza has seen conquerors come and go Oliver McTernan knows this terrain better than most. As a mediator with Forward Thinking, he's spent decades listening to bot...

 The Quiet Suburb That Set the Middle East on Fire It wasn't Tehran. It wasn't Beirut. It was a sleepy French village—Neauphle-le-Château—that became the unlikely launchpad of the most explosive revolution of the 20th century. Here, in a modest home lined with apple trees, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, cloaked in black, sat in exile. No army. No government. Just a microphone, cassette tapes, and a message. And yet… this man, hosted by France, toppled America's golden client—the Shah of Iran. But wait—why would France, a US ally, host the very man who would dismantle the West's foothold in the region? It's not just a historical quirk. It's a lesson in how freedom, miscalculation, and geopolitical ego can give birth to unintended chaos. Why Did France Give Khomeini Asylum? 1. He had a legal visa. Khomeini wasn't a fugitive. He entered France through proper channels after being expelled from Iraq in 1978 by Saddam Hussein. He broke no French laws. There was no I...

 He Promised Nothing But Dignity—and That Was Enough He was a shadowy figure on a cassette tape. A man in exile. No army, no palace, no political machine. And yet, in 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran like a thunderclap. Not because of what he said. But because of how he said it. The Islamic Revolution wasn’t a PowerPoint of policies. It was a poetry of pain. Why the Sermon Beat the Rifle We like to think revolutions are born from strategy. But more often, they rise from symbolism. Khomeini didn’t just attack the Shah. He painted him as Yazid—the hated tyrant of Karbala. He didn’t just advocate for the poor. He framed them as the mustazafin, the “oppressed,” a sacred identity rooted deep in Islamic and Shia tradition. You see, Shia Islam isn’t just theology. It’s a memory—of betrayal, martyrdom, and resistance. Khomeini knew that. He didn’t need to invent new slogans. He simply reminded people of the old stories they already carried in their bones. And people wept....

 She was eight when she started packing school lunches—not for herself, but for her younger brothers. By eleven, she knew how to calm a colicky baby, boil rice without burning it, and sense her mother's mood from the sound of her footsteps. At thirteen, she could defuse her father's temper before it exploded, walk her siblings to school, and still manage to finish her homework by candlelight. She wasn't a prodigy. She was just the eldest daughter. And that meant her childhood didn't belong to her. In households around the world—South Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, parts of Africa and the American South—the firstborn girl is rarely “just a child.” She is a deputy parent. A shadow mother. A quiet manager of chaos. When we romanticize it, we call it maturity. When we overlook it, we call it normal. But here's what I noticed: the maturity comes at a cost. These girls grow up fast, and often alone. They learn not to cry because no one has time to soothe them. They...

“Your chancellorship will go down in German history as the greatest electoral fraud.” That’s how the speech began. Not with data. Not with policy. With anger. And the rest followed in kind: migrants are freeloaders. Refugees are rapists. Afghans are flown in to ruin the schools. Every second recipient of welfare is foreign. Merkel lied. Scholz is lying. Tax money is being “thrown out the window.” Germany is dying. Knife attacks. PISA scores. Islamization. Collapse. It’s tempting to react emotionally. But what if the truth is more complicated—and less convenient for those who shout the loudest? My daughter and son-in-law live in Germany. They pay taxes. They pay rent. They ride the same trains, pay the same electricity bills, and navigate the same bureaucracy that frustrates everyone from Munich to Mecklenburg. They’re not freeloading. They’re contributing—like millions of immigrants who work in hospitals, software firms, auto plants, and construction sites across Germany. And y...

  Part 1 of “The Forgotten Exodus: Jews from Muslim Lands” A dusty stone reads: Rachel Sopher, 1918. It lies alone in the crumbling Jewish cemetery off M.A. Jinnah Road. Few people notice it. Fewer still know what it means. But once, there was a vibrant Jewish community in Karachi. Today, it’s a ghost. We were taught that Jews lived only in Israel or the West. No one told us they were once our neighbors — raising families, building schools, praying in synagogues that now no longer exist. What happened? A Community Hiding in Plain Sight Before Partition, Karachi’s Jews lived largely in Saddar and Bunder Road. They were mostly Bene Israel Jews, originally from India, who had come during British rule. Some had roots in Baghdad or Persia. They spoke Marathi, Urdu, Hebrew, English. They built lives as teachers, musicians, watchmakers, traders. There was no ghetto, no segregation. They walked freely among Christians, Hindus, Parsis, and Muslims. Their synagogue, Magain Shalome ,...

  From Utah's Desert to a Global Tech Battle Two metric tons of monazite in each bag—over 50% rare earth oxide. That's what they're handling at the White Mesa mill in Utah. Not gold, not oil. But something arguably more valuable in the age of AI, electric vehicles, and precision drones: rare earth elements. They don't look like much. But without them, your Tesla won't run, your iPhone won't vibrate, and your military defense systems? Good luck with that. And here's the problem: most of them come from China. 🇨🇳 The Rise of China's Rare Earth Empire Let's rewind. The US used to lead the world in rare earth production—until the 1980s. Then, bit by bit, America outsourced, offshored, and forgotten. Meanwhile, China did the opposite: Lower labor costs Lax environmental rules Massive state support Today, China controls: 70% of rare earth mining 90% of processing And the lion's share of refining reagents and skilled laborato...

  She was last seen leaving a gas station in Montana. The security camera caught her smiling, holding a bag of chips. That was three years ago. No body. No answers. Just silence. In America, if you're a Native woman and you go missing, the system treats you like you never existed. They won't print your name in the national press. They won't issue an Amber Alert. They might not even open a case. Because in the “Land of the Free,” some women are just allowed to disappear. A Country Built on Land Theft Now Ignores Its Daughters Let this sink in: More than 4 out of 5 Native women in the US will experience violence in their lifetime. They are 10 times more likely to be murdered than the national average. Most of this violence is committed by non-Native men —often on Native land. And most of it is never prosecuted. This isn't a crisis. It's an epidemic. And it's been happening for decades—mostly in silence. And the silence? That...

“We've seen too many images of children being killed... This horror must end.” —Joint Statement by 28 Countries, July 2025  When Silence Turns to Sympathy When the Gaza war began, the world mostly held its breath. People understood the shock of October 7th. Israel's grief was raw, and many said nothing. That silence, in its own way, was a form of respect. But now—nearly two years later—that silence is cracking. Public sentiment, international diplomacy, even the language of Western allies—it's all shifting. And not quietly. France has just announced it will formally recognize the State of Palestine in September. Not Just a Gesture—Not Just France To be clear, over 140 countries already recognize Palestine . That includes global heavyweights like India, China, and Russia. But Western powers? Most still refuse. Their default script has always been: “Let's secure a two-state solution first.” That script is now being rewritten. Last year, Norway, Irelan...